In recent years, much attention has focused on the growth of nonstandard and contingent employment (including part-time work) which involves up to 30 percent of the total U.S. labor force. There is little agreement on either the causes or the effects of this trend. Some researchers emphasize the advantages: employees may explore the job market and obtain work that does not necessarily involve rigid schedules, while employers enjoy greater flexibility and lower costs. Others point to the disadvantages for employees, such as lack of job security, fewer benefits and chances for promotion, and often lower wages. Drawbacks for employers include a workforce that has little chance to develop firm-specific knowledge or loyalty.

Chapters in Nonstandard Work: The Nature and Challenges of Emerging Employment Arrangements carefully analyze the extent and nature of various nonstandard work arrangements; their advantages and disadvantages for employees and employers; the demographic, industrial, and occupational distribution of such positions; and the question of whether standard employment itself is changing. Some contributors consider how innovative labor market intermediaries and unions might expand opportunities for workers while also helping firms to raise their productivity.

Press Reviews

Nonstandard Work

"The volume is characteristic of prior annual research volumes of the IRRA in that it contains a summary introduction by the editors and a mixture of empirical and theoretical pieces. . . This scholarly volume is recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students as well as researchers."—Choice, June 2001, Vol. 38, No. 10

Nonstandard Work

"Sixteen papers examine the observed decline of the standard employment relationship and the emerging new employment arrangements."—Journal of Economic Literature, September 2001

Nonstandard Work

"This volume is about the decline of the standard employment relationship and the emerging new employment arrangements."—Future Survey, 23:4, April 2001

Title Nonstandard Work

Subtitle The Nature and Challenges of Emerging Employment Arrangements